Call to Artists: American Gun Show

Open call for artwork:

Few technologies have had the impact on civilization that the gun has had. With a storied history of a millennium and having been woven into American culture, it is not surprising that it is as contentious as it is empowering.

Dorothy Santos and James Morgan are bringing together a series of works across media that consider all sides of this technology. From the historic use in war to the representations in photography, painting and film, we are also interested in the object as it represents an intersection of functional design and technology. We want to look backwards and forwards and seek works that express a viewpoint related to guns and/or the second amendment.

We are particularly interested in the reflections of underrepresented and underserved communities regarding the place of the gun in the United States. Our expectation is that these views are not often reflected in the public and mainstream media.

Our intuition tells us that there are more than two sides of this story, that there is a relationship between queer, trans* and other communities to guns.

We want to tell that story.

The show will take place from October to November of 2015 in San José, California. We are particularly interested in media based projects and visual responses to the topic.

The gun is a thousand year old technology changed by contemporary prototyping and communication processes. The American Gun Show looks at cultural responses in the context of personal liberty at the intersection of our identity, as Americans, and relationship to the network and print-on-demand technologies. Cody Wilson designed a 3D printable single shot pistol in 2013 which he posted as a computer file online for the public. Within days the U.S. State Department demanded that the files be taken down. This dispute marks a significant event in both legal and technological history – the collision of the first and second amendments of the US Constitution. Free speech and personal liberty become central themes to The American Gun Show.

This exhibition is about the artists’ response to guns and, to a lesser extent, the design and aesthetics of the machine itself. The art and technology of guns as an objective focus for this exhibition has been a challenging one to meet, but the much needed dialogue around an object rife with cultural, social, and political meaning warrants examination through a multi-faceted lens. This show is an exploration of the American psyche and history steeped by gun violence. What is the political will of the American public to address the issues related this advanced form of weaponry? As curators, we explored artists, artistic practices, and expressions that can offer a form of neutrality or balanced perspectives on the issue of gun creation and control.

We understand and expect a wide array of reactions to the content and nature of the exhibition. To that end, people will find some of the work offensive or antagonist to either side of the debate. But we ask visitors to consider the work that resonates with them may have the same or different effect on another viewer. The American Gun Show is not anti-gun or pro-gun. Rather, the show seeks to drive more of a census on what can bring opposing viewpoints stemming from the existence of this object as a point of departure for effective legislation while respecting the rights of American citizens.

As a culmination of the public programming associated with the current Room for Big Ideas project, Conceiving Place, Bay Area-based writer Dorothy Santos will be in conversation with Mabel Negrete on her work and ask questions that focus on social practice, defining place, current social and political climates, as well as how the project has evolved since its inception. The conversation will be for one hour between artist and writer and 15–30 minutes of facilitated Q&A.The evening’s program will open with a ceremonial workshop led by Khalil Anthony: SONGS FROM PLANET ZERO

Join artist Khalil Anthony on a voyage in creation and song creation. Through this interactive workshop, participants will breathe together, and create music with only their bodies and voices as instruments. Learn to use your inherent rhythm and beat making ability to conjure songs as a group and by yourself, in this improvisational based workshop that pull songs from Planet Zero; a mythical place where all things are possible, as long as imagination and vulnerability meet.From writer Dorothy Santos – “We all carry the burden of punishment in our everyday lives. But at the economic, social, and cultural level, these burdens remain invisible. Whether they are through the taxes we pay perpetuating the prison industrial complex to surveillance technologies, we live in a world where we are unable to truly navigate away from digital and physical landscapes withoutconsequence. MabelNegrete coined the term ‘invisible punishing machines’ as a response to narratives around imprisonment, political oppression, and systems of government. Her work relies on vulnerability, storytelling, and experiential practices that have resulted in works such as The Weight I Carry with Me (2010 – Ongoing) to her founding the research initiative Counter Narrative Society (CNS). The breadth of her work has served as an impactful project that aims to reverse dominant narratives that diminish the untold and often obscured stories of underrepresented and vulnerable populations.”See the entire August 2015 workshop schedule at http://thinkeringschool.sparkmakers.org/july-aug-2015-thinkering-activities/Part of the exhibition, Conceiving Place:

Through a series of public workshops, Conceiving Place will engage the Bay Area community in a conversation about our personal and societal narratives; ultimately turning the weight we individually carry into a communal work. This ever-evolving installation will also frequently include “hands on, minds on” experiences. See more at http://ybca.org/conceiving-place

Artist Mabel Negrete, the founder of Counter Narrative Society (CNS), is a multi-disciplinary artist exploring counter narratives about bio-power, urbanism, culture, and technology. Her project The Weight I Carry with Me is a reaction to the invisible punishing machine, an idiomatic, science fiction-esque research concentration she designed to examine the spatial and technological causes that produce inequality and invisible punishment — a consequence of mass imprisonment, political persecution of individuals, the prison-welfare system, urbanization, neoliberal policies, and social-urban control in the USA. She is a recipient of several recognitions including MIT Presidential Award 2009-2010 and MIT Architecture Department Fellowship 2009-2011, Zellerbach Family Foundation & W.A. Gerbode Foundation 2006, and Osher Memorial Merit Scholarship – San Francisco Art Institute 2003-2006. Her work has been presented in a variety of public spaces and cultural institutions: Boston City Hall, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA; Art of this Gallery, MI; De Young Museum, CA, The Intersection for the Arts, CA; Galleria de la Raza, CA; Primo Piano Living Gallery, Lecce Italy; New College of California, CA; San Francisco World Affairs Counsel, SF; and University of San Francisco, CA.

Humans are resilient. Our anatomy is extraordinary and highly complex. We build, construct, destroy, and synthesize. But human nature involves understanding the biology and mechanisms that provoke us to move and accelerate. In Movement in Many Parts, an exhibition curated by Lucy Seena K. Lin and Weston Teruya, artists investigate human evolution through nature and industry. Their ruminations are shown through organic forms, moving image, photography, drawing, and painting. Each work reminds us of the adage that the totality of many things in concert is far greater than one single part of the whole.

In A1007 (Wall II) (2011), Noritaka Minami asks us to peer into the modular housing built within the Japanese urban landscape. At the start of the series, a viewer is let into a small room with a single, large round window that looks out onto the city and other pods. There is no returning gaze; a viewer sees only the disheveled room of a seemingly busy city dweller. The room could very well be a viewer’s; the window is the only way to see outside and to observe other living things. Stagnancy is apparent through the dull colors of bed sheets and the aging, disintegrating papers on the wall. Even the dated typography of the numbers on the clock suggests a thick layer of dust has settled over things untouched. The scene gives the sense that the busyness of city life has depleted the weary soul that inhabits this space. Minami’sTower (Facade 1) (2011) includes a segment of the exterior architecture that gives a viewer not only a sense of scale but also of how nature has weathered the building’s exterior. The erosion suggests that the original design is obsolete in this fast-paced environment.

While Minami’s photographs depict an environment, Kim Anno’s photographs ponder the effects of climate change and demonstrate how humans may adapt to and work with rising sea levels. Men and Women in Water Cities (2011) shows individuals fully clothed in suits and corporate attire turning their bodies toward a viewer, as though caught in mid-action. The picture plane presents something absurd. Yet, is it as absurd as we think? Anno proposes peculiar but perhaps ingenious ways we might survive despite nature’s disposition, showing what humans may be driven to do when it is necessary to endure. It is this human tendency toward movement that forces resiliency.

Here are some of the photos I took on my walk through of the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition at the De Young Museum. I walked away thinking the following: A) I think I would fumble all over my words if I met Jean Paul Gaultier, B) I will never look at fiber optics, wire, actual film strips, ribbon, lace, leather, and vinyl the same way ever again (THIS is a good thing), C) I want to meet the curator and theater company that helped produce the exhibition, D) next time, I will be taking a day off from work to go to a high-profile exhibition, and E) any exhibition at a major museum on a Saturday is like being on a crowded train. Enjoy the photos AND if you checked out the show, please feel free to leave comments and share your experience!! 🙂

Film, especially documentary films, have always captivated my attention. Over the years, I’ve seen some amazing experimental film and video art works that had me wanting to support this particular art form at every opportunity. When I learned about the Free Form Film Festival (FFFF) and viewed some of the works from previous years, I was impressed with the caliber and the quality of the concepts. Co-founders, Tyrone Davies and Ryan Wylie have been running the FFFF)for over 10 years! I had the opportunity to catch up with Tyrone for some Q & A. Check out what he had to say and learn more about the festival!!

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What was the impetus for the Free Form Film Festival (FFFF)?

FFFF came out of a desire to screen films that most festivals do not screen. Ryan and I were realizing how few venues there were for genre-defying work. It seems like every fest has a box hey want to put you in. If you don’t fit, you don’t get shown. We thought there should be more festivals (I still can’t think of one) that were truly open to all forms, genres, lengths etc.

How did you get the name Free Form Film Festival (FFFF)?

The name Free Form Film Festival comes directly from our mission – to curate works challenging standard “form” or are even free of preconceptions about form and genre.

What is the difference between FFFF and other film festivals? Since FFFF has been happening for over the past 10 years, what was the motivation for you and Ryan to expand and start fundraising at this point?

Since we are often considered to be an experimental film festival, we don’t seem to get as many narratives or documentaries submitted to us. But our aim is to show anything we consider to be innovative. We aim to be as eclectic as possible. We value the cross-pollination of ideas as well. I feel this is pretty unique. As time goes on, our concept of what a film is has expanded. There’s a lot of video art and other media art that is repetitive or has no real “end” so that work is hard to show to an audience. But we have made adjustments in some cases with multiple screens, or curating segments from larger works. Even though we can’t do all the things a gallery can do, we try to adjust for exciting content regardless of the form it takes.

As for the fundraising, we have a lot of reasons. The biggest financial concern entails hosting the visiting filmmakers who show their work and lecture. We want to elevate the festival by bringing in known makers. This year, I was able to secure funds to bring Bay Area makers, Mike Kuchar, Craig Baldwin, Jennifer Kroot, and Jamie Meltzer to Denver to show and discuss their films in person! This was a one-time thing that only affected Denver, but it was great. The Kickstater funding can do this in San Francisco and Salt Lake City. The other big thing is that some (not all) of our shows are free. The films with a modest fee still accrue production costs. We could use the flexibility. Also, we are working on some web development for our site but that is minimal. The main reason for the money is visiting lecturers in the three cities – San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Denver!!

What are you hoping will happen with FFFF? Do you want this to travel to other cities? Will FFFF have a base city?

After all the travel we have already done, we want to put down some roots. Right now, it seems like Denver, San Francisco, and Salt Lake City are the best choices. In the long run, we will definitely stay in San Francisco. We will always do some shows in less likely locations too but we don’t intend to keep traveling the way we once did. It’s just too difficult to do this and you can’t build audiences as easily. Again, this is why we are fundraising. We want to help bring artists to meet the community.

For those interested in submitting work for consideration to FFFF, what are you and Ryan looking for during the submission and deliberation process?

For submissions, we want people to send us work that is thoughtful and innovative. We don’t care if it’s a narrative, a documentary, an experimental film, video art, or anything else. We look for work that is conceptually strong.

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Below, is Brian Dewan’s, King of Instrument short film was featured in the past at the Free Form Film Festival (FFFF)

“…Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past explores how Asian cosmologies, view of nature, and religious outlooks are being carried on in the practice of artists “here and now”. Further, it shines a light from “here and now” on the history and traditions of Asia, expanding our imagination into a realm that transcends space and time and awakening the receptivity that enables us to sense the invisible forces that resound to this day like a basso continuo.”

– Mami Kataoka, Co-curator of Phantoms of Asia

The ethereal and enigmatic serve as inspiration for many of the works currently showing at the Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past exhibition at the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco, CA). Specifically, this collection of artworks transforms the materiality of objects into explanations of our relationships to Time and the Cosmos. These ideas are certainly at the core of Poklong Anading and Ringo Bunoan’s work. Since a primary objective of art entails illuminating truths that may be dormant in human subconscious or obscured by dominant culture, the artist’s aim is to delve into the past to conjure up truths about the present and possible future.

Works from the exhibition look at how traditional forms, methods, and ancient philosophies inform and serve as the impetus for contemporary works. Cultural nuances and long withstanding beliefs play a tremendous role in Phantoms of Asia. Both Anading and Bunoan aim to capture the complexities surrounding our notions of the intangible. They look at our collective human experience and connection with the earth and the environment, in particular, Anading’s creation of a meditative gaze to the ritualistic gestures as seen in Bunoan’s work. With the flash of a bright light to the image of rolled blankets as sculpture, the two artists use simple gestures as a way to communicate and entice a dialogue with the viewer on our complex existence and mortality.

While wandering through the exhibition, I couldn’t help but reflect on the definition of the word ‘phantom’ and its relationship to the exhibition and its overall meaning to contemporary Asian Art. Naturally, in looking up the definition, I found the following, as defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary:

1 a : something apparent to sense but with no substantial existence : apparition

1 b : something elusive or visionary

1 c : an object of continual dread or abhorrence

2 : something existing in appearance only

3 : a representation of something abstract, ideal, or incorporeal

Although the popular definition is suitable for the show, the last definition was the most striking, “a representation of something abstract, ideal, or incorporeal”. Both Anading and Bunoan examine the corporeality of objects within an environment as well as byproducts of human existence. The subjects contained in the works provoke the viewer to grapple with notions of transcendence, life, and death. As I stepped into the dimly lit gallery, slowly walking through a pair of glass doors, I saw the work of Poklong Anading. At first glance, the unique display of light boxes from his photographic series, Anonymity (2008-2011), gave the light within the photograph even more illumination.

The light against the transparent prints provided a stark contrast to the subject’s environments and accentuated highlights and shadows that would otherwise remain flat. Mirrors reflecting blazing rays of sunlight, seeing bare feet adorned by flip-flops, and the surrounding environments of each subject, Anading does a superb job at making the viewer believe this could in fact be anywhere in the world. The faceless subjects were not only anonymous but where their faces once were became a meditative focal point. These subjects become ethereal beings thus forcing the imagination to wonder and the anonymity becomes a meditation. There is a revealing in the unrevealing. In a visual and figurative sense, Anading removes the subject’s gaze to serve as an interpretation of what transcendence may look like. There is a sense of wonder and mystery to the subjects’ lives as the viewer fixates on the light.

Ringo Bunoan. “Passage”, 2007.

On the opposite end of universals, Bunoan’s work looks at the concept of death and our connection to the past. In her work, Passage: The Blanket Project (2007), the performative and sculptural work was created while Bunoan was living in Pashupati, Nepal. Living with the sick and elderly, she found materiality to be the least of residents’ concerns and worries. Allison Harding, co-curator for the exhibition, reflects on Passage by noting on the object itself, “Once symbols of warmth, comfort, and rest, the blankets in Passage signify the bodies they covered. Partly memento mori and partly the artist’s farewell to Nepal, the documentation of Bunoan’s work from a single afternoon reminds us that after death, traces of us may remain”.

In viewing photographs of the Nepalese residents engaging in performative gesture resulting in a sculptural piece that bears a striking resemblance to a casket, the viewer can easily see that much of Bunoan’s work relies heavily on the senses and community. Each rolled up blanket becomes a composite entity, which seems to be a metaphor for the multi-faceted human being, a community, and the interconnectedness of humankind on a global scale. The ceremonial nature of the work serves to remind the viewer that physical remnants prevent us from being wholly detached from spirituality or one another.

The work of Poklong Anading and Ringo Bunoan fit perfectly in this exhibition in that each set of works extrapolates the enigmatic nature of spirituality, life, and death. Regardless of a viewer’s beliefs, there is something inherent in the pieces that transcend the physical human experience. As humans constantly struggle to understand ourselves, Anading and Bunoan provide us with visual representations of the intangible because the art provides yet more extraordinary explanations to ideas we so desperately try to wrangle and comprehend yet consistently elude us.

Originally posted to PlantingRice.com, please click here to view additional photos of the exhibition